Question

In the following drawing, the green spheres represent atoms of a certain element. The purple spheres represent atoms of another element. If the spheres of different elements touch, they are part of a single unit of a compound. The following chemical change represented by these spheres may violate one of the ideas of Dalton’s atomic theory. Which one?

Short answer

The postulate 5 is being violated because the reactants have 1 green and 2 purple spheres while the products have 2 green and 2 purple spheres.

Step-by-step solution

Step1: Dalton’s atomic theory

Postulate 1:

A matter is made up of microscopic particles known as atoms

Postulate 2

An element is made up of only one sort of atom, which has a mass that is unique to the element and is shared by all the atoms of that element. A macroscopic sample of an element comprises an enormous number of atoms with identical chemical characteristics.

Postulate 3

Atoms of one element have properties that differ from atoms of all other elements.

Postulate 4

A compound is made up of atoms from two or more elements that are mixed in a tiny, whole-number ratio.The numbers of atoms of a compound's elements are always present in the same ratio.

Postulate 5

During a chemical change, atoms are not generated nor destroyed. Rather, they are rearranged to produce substances that differ from those existent before the change.